High Carb Baby Formula Food Tested on Rats

Consuming a milk formula high in carbohydrates during the critical early weeks of postnatal life causes permanent changes in pancreatic islets and leads to overproduction of insulin and development of obesity in adulthood, University at Buffalo biochemists, working with rats, have found.
Furthermore, this “metabolic programming” carries through to the next generation. Offspring of first-generation high-carbohydrate-fed (HC) female rats developed hyperinsulinemia (high insulin levels) and obesity without any dietary modification.

The results from this study involving the high-carbohydrate-fed rat model suggest that what foods human babies are fed as newborns may contribute to metabolic programming, leading to adult-onset diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Overfeeding of formula and early introduction of supplemental weaning foods such as cereals, fruits and juices that are high in carbohydrates may be the culprits.

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